- Alberto Contador was coming down with something at the finish of the Tour, and states that he "was no longer the strongest rider on the team." We also learned today that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has opened an investigation against Contador related to his alleged involvement with the Operation Puerto affair. This overturns the UCI's earlier decision to acquit Contador of any involvement in the case.
- Floyd Landis will be riding in the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race this weekend. Lance was scheduled to appear, but at this point seems to have backed out. Floyd will have to settle for racing against Lance's coach, who had been training to compete against him at the race.
- Another nail in the coffin for the Astana team: Craft, their apparel sponsor has cancelled their contract with the troubled team. This follows an announcement last week that their bicycle sponsor BMC dropped them. Vinokourov continues to claim innocence.
- The up and coming Slipstream Sports/Chipotle team has added Magnus Backstedt to their squad. He joins David Millar, Dave Zabriskie, Christian Vandevelde, Julian Dean and Danny Pate in what is looking to be a very strong team. The Slipstream team is being built around a very strong anti-doping environment. They are hoping for wild-card invitations to the 2008 Paris-Roubaix and Tour de France with the eventual goal of securing a Pro Tour license in 2009.
- German team T-Mobile heads into this weekend's Deustchland Tour unsure of continued sponsorship. There is a press conference scheduled for August 9th at which it is expected T-Mobile will announce whether they will keep supporting the team.
When first asked a couple of weeks ago about the decision in the Floyd Landis case, Lance Armstrong basically implied that he didn't keep up with cycling anymore and that he didn't have time to look at it.
Now, in a new interview released yesterday, Armstrong blasts the decision of the arbitration panel and states that he feels that Landis would have been exonerated by a jury.
It's about time he spoke up. He may be focused on finding a cure for cancer, but he needs to recognize that for most Americans, he is the person that comes to mind when they think about professional cycling.
Now, in a new interview released yesterday, Armstrong blasts the decision of the arbitration panel and states that he feels that Landis would have been exonerated by a jury.
It's about time he spoke up. He may be focused on finding a cure for cancer, but he needs to recognize that for most Americans, he is the person that comes to mind when they think about professional cycling.